FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert today cleared Russia and Qatar of corruption charges in their winning bids for the '18 and '22 World Cups, and the ruling "formally ended a probe into the bidding contests." No proof was found of "bribes or voting pacts." Exactly when the '22 Qatar World Cup will be played is "still unclear as FIFA seeks an alternative to the desert heat in June and July" (AP, 11/13).

The "heaviest criticism with regard to ethical violations during the bidding process was directed" at two losing bids: England's effort to land the '18 event and Australia's '22 bid. The U.S., which applied to host in '22, "was not found to have committed any significant wrongdoing" (NYTIMES.com, 11/13).

A crowd of 18,996 attended last night's Rockets-T'Wolves game at Mexico City Arena, where the fans "delighted in anything done well, regardless of the resumes or reputations of those that did it." Rockets G James Harden said, "Just to give these Mexico City fans an NBA game means a lot to us. We’re glad we could be here and put on a show." It took "well over an hour for the Rockets’ second bus to get to the game, forcing players to skip their pregame shooting" (CHRON.com, 11/12).

AECOM has been selected to design more than $30M in upgrades to Time Warner Cable Arena, according to an e-mail issued by city of Charlotte officials and obtained by SportsBusiness Journal. The city now enters contract negotiations with the K.C.-based sports architect. The old Ellerbe Becket, now part of AECOM, originally designed the arena, which houses the Hornets and opened in October '05. Three years ago, the then-named Bobcats hired Populous to develop a master plan for potential renovations. A total of eight firms competed for the recent job.

The NFL this morning unveils the next round of winners in its Head Health Challenge, an initiative of the league, General Electric and Under Amour that will give $20M to entities working to develop concussion prevention, treatment and diagnostic technologies. Most of the seven winners in the latest round, selected from 500 proposals, are university research arms. Each will get $500,000 and an opportunity to earn another $1M apiece. Included among the winners are Univ. of Washington and startup VICIS, which are developing a new helmet.

Churchill Downs announced that it is buying Seattle-based Big Fish Games, "which bills itself as the world's largest producer and distributor of online games," in a deal worth up to $885M. CDI "will acquire all the outstanding stock and equity interests in the privately held Big Fish," which has more than 450 mobile games and more than 3,500 PC games. CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen in a statement said that the deal "builds on his company's real-money horse betting site TwinSpires.com." The companies will discuss the deal today in an investors conference call (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 11/13).

The Chiefs and the Univ. of Missouri athletic department today are expected to announce an MU football game at Arrowhead Stadium, "perhaps for next season." The NFL team scheduled a news conference "for a major college football announcement at Arrowhead," and the "same release was forwarded to the media" by MU. The college team has an open date on Nov. 14, 2015, for its "fourth and final nonconference game." School officials declined to comment on possible opponents, but BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall "earlier this season mentioned MU as a possible 2015 foe" (K.C. STAR, 11/13). 

Orlando officials and reps of MLS expansion club Orlando City SC last night were joined by 150 people in the Parramore neighborhood for the "first community meeting the city has held with residents" about a new stadium. The venue is "scheduled to begin construction in March" and open in '16. Team reps said that they "would continue to provide youth soccer clinics and participate in other children's initiatives" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 11/13).

Harvard Univ. announced that Clippers Owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is "supporting a major initiative to significantly expand its computer science studies." Ballmer, a Harvard graduate, today will discuss the effort in more detail (AP, 11/13).

49ers season-ticket holders today will get an early window to buy tickets for WrestleMania 31 in March at Levi's Stadium. Other Bay Area residents will be able to start ordering tomorrow, and general sales begin Saturday. Fans "can buy up to eight face-value tickets, which range from $35 to $1,000" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 11/12).

Nashville Sports Council President & CEO Scott Ramsey and Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner Beth DeBauche are in Indianapolis to make "final presentations" on NCAA tournament bids they made for Nashville. They submitted a bid last year to host early rounds of of the men's event in '17 and '18 and one Women's Final Four from '17-20 (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 11/9).

"This is not about marketing. The real value is in the information that they're getting about safety in our game. If we can use our bully pulpit as the NFL to carry this message to a lot more moms and parents than we might otherwise, that's an obligation that we have" – Lions President Tom Lewand, on the league-wide "Moms Football Safety Clinic" effort (USA TODAY, 11/13).

"I've said it publicly that I will be absolutely brokenhearted if we don't have a winning record next year" – D-Backs Chief Baseball Officer Tony La Russa, during yesterday's GM meetings in Phoenix (MLB.com, 11/12).

Last night’s 2:00am ET edition of ESPN’s “SportsCenter” led with Trail Blazers-Nuggets, followed by Lakers-Pelicans, Rockets-T’Wolves and Indians P Corey Kluber winning the AL Cy Young. ESPN aired NHL highlights at about 20 minutes into their broadcast, before airing their first NFL report, a preview of Patriots-Colts. Last night’s 2:00am ET edition of FS1’s “Fox Sports Live” led with Rockets-T’Wolves, Lakers-Pelicans, Pistons-Wizards and analysis of last night’s NBA games. FS1 aired an NFL segment at about 25 minutes into their telecast, while airing their first NHL report about 31 minutes in.

ESPN’s Keith Olbermann called out his “world’s worst” persons in sports: Former Purdue men’s basketball coach Gene Keady for talking about his famous “combover” hairstyle that actually included hair “extensions.” Olbermann also blasted the Ricketts family, owners of the Cubs, who are spending money on renovations to Wrigley Field but maybe “not understanding the optics” as the stadium looks like “mid-implosion at any old football stadium,” and a New Zealand cricket player for hitting the match announcer’s car in the parking lot.

This is House of Cards, the Zurich series. #FIFA #popcorn

— Raphael Honigstein (@honigstein) November 13, 2014

Bummed out that Orwell isn't alive to see FIFA today.

— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) November 13, 2014

Most overrated marketing tactic:Info notebooks compiled by agents about star players. Teams aren't learning anything they don't already know

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) November 13, 2014

I would say the two best home crowds in the league are Boston and Golden State. But Phoenix is right there.

— Rick Bonnell (@rick_bonnell) November 13, 2014

NYC FC will reveal their '15 uniforms. The announcement comes during a one-week break in the MLS playoff schedule, designed around the FIFA international calendar.

The Packers will unveil a 50-foot-tall Lombardi Trophy replica to celebrate the formal opening of the American Family Insurance gate at Lambeau Field at 1:00pm CT.

Sony today will announce plans to launch a "new web-based television service" called PlayStation Vue. Sony "will start testing it this month with a select group of viewers" in N.Y., and will later "introduce PlayStation Vue as a package of about 75 TV channels." The service "will include the broadcast networks CBS, NBC and Fox," along with "dozens of popular cable networks." But two "notable exceptions" are deals with ESPN parent company Disney and Time Warner, which owns the Turner networks (N.Y. TIMES, 11/13).

NFL Network's Rich Eisen yesterday tweeted the hashtag #FindMyTruck after one of the net's production trucks "disappeared out of the parking lot of a Miami hotel." Eisen "later clarified" that NFL Net's main production trucks for tonight's telecast of Bills-Dolphins "are just fine" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 11/12). Police later recovered the truck's trailer in Dade County and said that it "didn't appear anything had been stolen or damaged, although the truck cab was still missing" (MIAMI HERALD, 11/13).

Last night’s “Final Jeopardy!” category was “The U.S. Constitution.”

“The Latin phrases found in the Constitution are ‘pro tempore,’ ‘ex post facto’ and this legal two-word phrase.”

CBS’ David Letterman said, “A lot of times we have traffic backups here in New York City for unpleasant reasons. Today, a pretty happy occasion. Traffic was backed up all day, snarled, what a mess, but they were having a big parade for the Jets. Did you see it?” The broadcast then aired video of a previous New York championship parade with excited fans on the streets and featured players riding a float that had a superimposed sign on it reading “WE DID IT! 2-8! JETS” and the on-screen caption that said “Jets Celebrate 2nd Win of the Season” (“Late Show,” CBS, 11/12).

“What is habeas corpus?”